Nanosized particles have attracted significant industrial interests. The unique size-dependent properties of nanosized materials have promising applications in catalysis, electronic and optical devices, and medical fields.
A number of syntheses, including chemical reduction, photochemical, sonochemical, and gas evaporation, have been developed to prepare nanosized metal particles. Among these, the chemical reduction method is well known as the most preferable method to synthesize nanosized metal particles. In the case of the chemical reduction method, however, reduction agents used for the fabrication could create contamination easily. Therefore, additional processes to remove the contaminants are necessary. Moreover, further processing is required to disperse the metal particles into a pure solvent.
The present invention overcomes these problems by providing a method whereby high purity noble metal particles suspended stably in pure solvent may be synthesized without additional processing to remove extraneous byproducts created during the fabrication process. Even though a laser ablation method recently reported looks like a unique process to create metal particles suspended in water, it is estimated to be an inefficient process in terms equipment cost and capability for mass production. The disclosed invention overcomes the inefficiencies of prior art production of suspended, high purity, nanosized metal particles in pure solvent and, additionally, has relatively low production costs.